Fact check: Was Elon Musk’s Starlink used to rig the US election?

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Some societal media users declare to person recovered an mentation for Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 predetermination loss. They opportunity billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink exertion manipulated votes to use President-elect Donald Trump.

Starlink is an net supplier that uses satellites to supply connectivity; it’s a subsidiary of Musk’s commercialized spaceflight institution SpaceX.

“Musk’s Starlink uploaded votes successful plaything states,” one November 10 Threads station said. “Swing authorities voters went Dem downballot but Trump astatine nan top? Unlikely. Starlink satellites exploding, destroying evidence.”

Starlink made headlines successful caller weeks when nan company distributed equipment to thief group regain net entree successful hurricane-hit areas. To immoderate people, that move was further proof of nan conspiracy.

“The Russians person entree to Starlink terminals and truthful nan satellites. The Russians are known hackers,” said different November 10 Threads post. “Elon Musk and nan US gov. sent Starlink terminals to Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia owed to nan hurricanes.”

Other Threads users summarised nan unsubstantiated claims: “People are saying Elon Musk utilized Starlink to bargain nan US Election for Donald Trump.”

These posts were flagged arsenic portion of Meta’s efforts to combat mendacious news and misinformation connected its News Feed. (Read much astir PolitiFact’s partnership pinch Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

Election information experts and authorities and section predetermination officials rebutted nan claims, saying nan 2024 statesmanlike predetermination was unafraid and there’s nary grounds of Starlink-related fraud.

“Starlink is suspected by conspiracy theorists not because of what it does, but because Elon Musk owns it,” Mike Rothschild, a journalist, writer and conspiracy theory expert, said.

This conspiracy mentation circulated connected Threads amid a larger wave of predetermination denial claims from liberals that mimic Republicans’ mendacious claims astir 2020 predetermination fraud.

“Conspiracy theories astir mislaid elections being stolen are a earthy measurement to header pinch an unexpected outcome,” Rothschild said, adding that it’s important to “leave conspiracism down and clasp reality”.

Election infrastructure is secure

Jen Easterly, head of nan national Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, reported connected November 6 that nan agency had “no grounds of immoderate malicious activity that had a worldly effect connected nan information aliases integrity of our predetermination infrastructure”.

Officials from plaything states that received Starlink exertion aft nan September and October hurricanes besides said Starlink exertion could not person been utilized to use Trump.

North Carolina’s tabulators and ballot-marking devices are ne'er connected to nan internet, Patrick Gannon, nan North Carolina State Board of Elections spokesperson, said. State rule prohibits connecting specified instrumentality to nan internet, he added.

“Satellite-based net devices were not utilized to tabulate aliases upload ballot counts successful North Carolina,” Gannon said. “In addition, our tabulated results are encrypted from root to destination preventing results being modified successful transit. We person nary grounds of immoderate alteration of votes by anyone.”

The different six plaything states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – person akin predetermination information protocols to guarantee voting instrumentality is ne'er connected to nan net during ballot tabulation.

Even if Starlink had someway been utilized to modify nan ballot count, location are systems designed to drawback tabulation discrepancies, including risk-limiting audits, canvassing and certification of nan predetermination results, said Michael Specter, a Georgia Institute of Technology adjunct professor specialising successful predetermination security.

“None of these are foolproof, but each makes it importantly little apt that an onslaught would beryllium successful,” Specter said.

Broadly speaking, voting machines are not connected to nan internet, experts said. In immoderate states, ballot tabulators are concisely connected to nan net to transmit results erstwhile polls close. And successful galore places, different predetermination infrastructure, specified arsenic pollbooks pinch lists of integer elector registration records, has net connectivity.

We recovered small grounds Starlink is wide utilized during elections. Even successful Asheville, North Carolina’s Buncombe County, 1 of nan places hardest deed by Hurricane Helene, predetermination officials told PolitiFact that Starlink was not utilized for immoderate predetermination functions.

Genya Coulter, elder predetermination expert for nan OSET Institute, a nonprofit group focused connected accurate, unafraid and transparent elections, said she knew Starlink exertion had been utilized to support predetermination infrastructure successful 1 place: Tulare County, California. Trump won Tulare County pinch astir 60 percent of nan vote.

“Most of nan agrarian portion of nan region has small to nary entree to broadband, and Starlink was utilized to person nan physics pollbooks connected to a region elector database,” Coulter said. Pollbooks are lists of integer elector registration records.

Vote tabulators weren’t connected to Starlink outer internet, she said, adding that nan region had astir 28,000 in-person voters.

Regarding claims astir Russian hackers swaying predetermination outcomes, Coulter said she was “less worried astir Russian hackers affecting ballot totals and importantly much concerned” pinch nan deluge of incorrect predetermination accusation that Russian-linked groups distributed online earlier nan predetermination and nan explosive threats targeting predetermination infrastructure that officials said were “of Russian origin”.

What astir reports of a Starlink outer fireball?

On November 10, a Starlink outer reentered Earth’s ambiance heading southeast from Washington to Texas and exploded.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist and subject information strategy group leader astatine NASA’s Chandra X-ray Center, said there’s thing noteworthy astir that.

“This is not a lawsuit of abruptly deciding to discontinue this outer wrong nan past week,” McDowell said. “Such reentries person been happening almost regular for nan past fewer years, they conscionable are astatine random times and random places successful nan world truthful not often complete nan US astatine nighttime wherever Americans tin spot it.”

According to US Space Force data, SpaceX removed this peculiar outer from cognition connected August 2, astatine which constituent nan outer started lowering its orbit, McDowell said. SpaceX abandoned nan outer connected October 13, McDowell added.

Stargazers successful southwest United States reported seeing fireballs successful nan early greeting hours of November 10. McDowell said that’s normal: During outer reentry and breakup, observers tin sometimes spot fireballs moving slow crossed nan sky.

Why Democrats won Senate races while Trump won nan presidency

Some of nan posts that floated nan Starlink conspiracy mentation pointed to Democratic successes successful immoderate down-ballot races arsenic grounds that thing was disconnected successful nan Trump-Harris results. Although there’s a beardown relationship betwixt votes formed for president and senator, it’s not ironclad. Voters are free to take candidates from different parties for different offices, and immoderate fraction of voters do.

Ticket-splitting – erstwhile voters take a Democrat for 1 agency and a Republican for different – has go little communal successful caller predetermination cycles arsenic governmental polarisation has increased. But nan believe hasn’t vanished entirely.

Incumbency tin thief candidates triumph re-election. For instance, 2 plaything states had Democratic incumbents support their Senate seats: Tammy Baldwin successful Wisconsin and Jacky Rosen successful Nevada. Their achievements successful agency and voters’ familiarity mightiness person helped these candidates.

Controversy, aliases a deficiency thereof, tin besides impact candidates’ campaigns. In Arizona, for example, Republican Kari Lake came to voters’ attraction successful 2022 erstwhile she mislaid a gubernatorial title built heavy connected claims that elections are fraudulent, including nan 2020 statesmanlike title that Biden won. This year, she mislaid to Democratic Representative Ruben Gallego, a retired US Marine and a Latino, successful a run twelvemonth successful which Latino voters were pivotal wrong nan electorate.

Specter, nan professor, said split-ticket voting “does not supply capable grounds that immoderate malfeasance has occurred”.

Our ruling

Threads posts said Musk’s Starlink exertion manipulated votes successful nan 2024 predetermination to use Trump.

Federal and authorities predetermination officials rebutted claims of 2024 predetermination fraud, including claims that Starlink manipulated nan ballot counts.

Voting machines aren’t typically connected to nan net and longstanding systems guarantee votes are reasonably and accurately tabulated.

We recovered only 1 lawsuit – successful California, not a plaything authorities – of Starlink exertion being utilized to support predetermination infrastructure, specified arsenic having nan physics pollbooks connected to a region elector database.

We complaint these claims Pants connected Fire!

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird and PolitiFact North Carolina Writer Paul Specht contributed to this report.

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